Does Cleveland fit in MLS picture?

[BulaJacket]

Decent article in The Plain Dealer from Bob Roberts:

Columbus -- Freddy Adu, arguably the most recognizable face in U.S. soccer, is here. But he's not playing.

Drew Carey will be at Crew Stadium, but he doesn't want to hide out in a luxury box. Cleveland's best-known comic since Bob Hope, and an average Joe if there was one in Hollywood, is so crazy for soccer that he's requested a photographer's pass so he can be close enough to the action to snap it.

And what about Cleveland? Could professional soccer, much like today's Major League Soccer All-Star Game that pits the MLS best against Fulham of the English Premier League, be headed for northeastern Ohio?

MLS All-Star weekend kicked off Friday with league Commissioner Don Garber's mid-season state of the league address that included talk of expansion.

"Our plans call for the addition of two new teams in 2007," he said. "There remains very strong interest in MLS expansion in Canada [in Toronto] and in American cities Houston, Cleveland, Milwaukee and St. Louis. Our ultimate goal is to be an 18-team league."

The MLS currently is a 12-team league.

"Cleveland's bid is real estate focused," said Garber, meaning the team needs a soccer specific stadium. "We are talking with Scott Wolstein and there is talk of Drew Carey being involved. He's a big soccer fan. Drew has a suite for all Los Angeles Galaxy matches, he was in Washington D.C. last [Thursday] night for the D.C. United-Chelsea match, and he's traveled to Trinidad and Mexico City to see the U.S. national team play. He's even addressed the team in the locker room."

Wolstein is the son of the late Bert Wolstein, a Cleveland-area developer who also tried to bring an MLS team to the area. Crew General Manager Mark McCullers is hoping greater Cleveland lands a franchise. "We would love to have that rivalry," he said. "Cleveland is an intriguing market, certainly for us."


....more......

http://www.cleveland.com/sports/plaindealer/index.ssf?/base/sports/112271617160651.xml&coll=2

[BulaJacket]

Pretty much unrelated, and mostly about Milwaukee, but a couple week old reference to Cleveland's bid:
Score!

An investor group has gotten its financial ducks in a row — to the tune of $320 million —to build a soccer-specific stadium and lure a Major League Soccer team to Milwaukee.

The project also includes retail space, office space and family housing, a combination designed to flank the $317 million PabstCity project, which faces a council vote later this month. That project, to be built on a defunct beer brewery site, has in line already a House of Blues concert venue, a GameWorks gaming center and a 10-screen Marcus Corp. theater, according to the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel.

The developer team for both projects includes Ferchill Group of Cleveland.

“Proponents said their largely privately financed plan would produce as many as 1,000 jobs; could bring as many as 500,000 visitors a year to the site; and would act as an economic engine for the city's sports and entertainment venues.

“Obstacles ahead include getting an MLS franchise, finding a suitable location and obtaining tax incremental financing from the city. The 12-team league is looking to expand to 14 teams in 2007,” the article says. Ten unidentified investors from Cleveland and Chicago along with four identified Milwaukee investors have formed a corporation to own and operate the stadium and the team.

Of course none of this is without controversy. Like any good development plan, there are snags aplenty — namely talks of collapsing the PabstCity project into the soccer stadium/mixed use plan to make one project instead of two, the story says.

Sounds like a plan (warts and all) that the late Bart Wolstein would have loved to see happen in Cleveland.
http://www.crainscleveland.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20050715/FREE/50715021/1002&Profile=1002